Quick Look: Defiance PlayStation 3 Beta – with Gameplay Video

An MMO with shooter elements that might benefit from cross media content

Defiance is an MMO created by Trion Worlds that aims to blend the traditional mechanics of the genre with shooter elements where the skill of the player is more important than his stats and his gear.

I have played the game on the PlayStation 3 and the beta offers a solid MMO experience that currently lacks any innovation to distance it from other titles in the genre.

Players start as an Ark Hunter and after quite a bit of customization and a dramatic opening sequence, the game settles into the classic formula of the MMO, with quests offered by a number of characters that bring in experience, new weapons and new play options.

The third-person shooter action is passable at the moment, even if there’s nothing special to capture the imagination of players so far.

The enemies seem a little dumb at time, only reacting when the player character gets fairly close to them, and there’s little variety to the action, although that might change as Defiance opens up with more skills and more players taking part.

The cast of characters seems to be made up mostly of clichés, with the EGO system sure to get compared to Cortana and a gruff military leader that would be at home in almost any science fiction series that SyFy has ever created.

Defiance on the PlayStation 3 also fails to impress visually, especially when it comes to character faces and to the various effects on the battlefield.

One of the most interesting aspects of Defiance is the integration with the SyFy television series and that aspect of the game was not tested in the beta period, so it might make sense for those looking for a trans-media experience to wait until after launch to get a clear opinion on the game.